Objective To explore the methods for practicing humanistic mentoring in clinical nursing environment. Methods A total of 120 nursing interns were enrolled and subjected to a 3-week humanistic mentoring program. The nurse mentors received training regarding theory and skills of humanistic care before the mentoring, then they were asked to practice caring for the students and implement caring-based teaching during the program. Results After the mentoring, the caring ability of the nursing students and patient satisfaction with humanistic care of the nursing students were significantly enhanced (P<0.01 for both). Conclusion Humanistic mentoring can enhance caring ability of nursing students and patient satisfaction with the students.